World Courant
Crown Copyright, courtesy of the Nationwide Museum of the Royal Navy
HMS Hawke was a Royal Navy warship sunk in World Conflict I
A wreck has been found off the coast of Aberdeenshire, believed to be a Royal Navy warship sunk by a torpedo throughout the First World Conflict.
HMS Hawke was found earlier this week by a workforce of divers roughly 112 kilometres east of Fraserburgh in “exceptional” situation.
Greater than 500 crew members had been killed when the ship was attacked by a German U-boat in October 1914.
The ship caught fireplace and sank after an explosion in lower than eight minutes. Solely 70 individuals on board survived the catastrophe.
Wreck of warship found off Aberdeenshire coast
It’s hoped the wreck can be formally recognized by the Royal Navy within the coming weeks.
The wreck was discovered by the Misplaced in Waters Deep group, which searches for shipwrecks in reminiscence of wartime losses in Scottish waters.
HMS Hawke, a 387 ft (118 m) lengthy and 60 ft (18 m) large Edgar-class protected cruiser, was first launched in 1891.
In 1911 the ship was badly broken in a collision within the Solent with the Titanic’s sister ship, the RMS Olympic.
When the First World Conflict broke out, Hawke was assigned to the tenth Cruiser Squadron and took half in blockades between Shetland and Norway.
In October 1914 the squadron was deployed additional south within the North Sea to stop German warships from attacking troop convoys from Canada.
Misplaced in deep waters
The dive was carried out from the vessel Clasina.
On 15 October 1914 the squadron was on patrol off Aberdeen when HMS Hawke was hit by a single torpedo from the German submarine U-9
This main raid early within the conflict was an early indication of the Royal Navy’s vulnerability to German U-boats, even within the north of Scotland.
The wreck, the ultimate resting place of 524 crew members, was positioned on August 12, 360 ft (110 meters) beneath the floor.
Steve Mortimer, a diver engaged on the Misplaced in Waters Deep challenge, instructed BBC Scotland that discovering the placement of HMS Hawke had taken a whole lot of work.
The workforce’s investigation concerned going again to modern information, such because the U-boat commander’s diary, which recorded the place the commander was when he fired the torpedo.
Additionally they seemed on the logs of different naval cruisers that had exchanged ‘mail’ simply earlier than HMS Hawke sank, giving them a normal thought of the place the ship could be.
Paul Downs
The diving workforce found many teak decks – and cannons – on the warship and even noticed a whole lot of Royal Navy crockery
One other reality was an ‘obstruction’ on the seabed reported by Scottish fishing within the Eighties.
The diving vessel investigated the location of the obstruction however discovered nothing.
Nonetheless, only a kilometer away they discovered an enormous shipwreck.
“It took years of analysis, however the precise time on the bottom was just a few hours,” Mr Mortimer mentioned.
He mentioned HMS Hawke had clearly deteriorated after a century on the seabed, however the ship was nonetheless in exceptional situation.
“A whole lot of the deck remains to be there, it is teak,” he mentioned.
“There’s a stunning captain’s gangway across the again of the strict. There are a great deal of weapons, as a result of it was clearly a warship.
“There’s a whole lot of Royal Navy tableware. It is fascinating. She was clearly utterly greatly surprised, as a result of a whole lot of the portholes are nonetheless open.”
In response to Mr Mortimer, the realm the place the ship was positioned incorporates few vitamins, that means the wreck has not been eaten by organisms.
He mentioned: “You possibly can look by way of the portholes and see rooms of artefacts – teacups, bowls and plates, simply on the ground.
“It truly is a exceptional time capsule.”
